F1 qualifying LIVE: Bahrain GP practice lap times as Max Verstappen goes fastest

LIVE – Updated at 12:43

Follow live updates from Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying as the drivers battle for the first first pole of the 2022 F1 season. Friday’s practice saw the reigning world champion Max Verstappen impress in his Red Bull while Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz both showed impressive pace, while Pierre Gasly was also quick in the AlphaTauri.

However, Mercedes looked a long way off the pace and seven-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton and new team mate George Russell saw no quick fix. Hamilton was ninth in the second session at Sakhir, with Russell fourth. The pair were seventh and fourth respectively in the opening practice.

“It’s all about lap time and we’re certainly not where we want to be,” said Russell. “I think we’ve made a bit of progress solving some issues, but the pace just is not there at all at the moment. We’re both struggling a bit with the car and we’re a long way off the pace of Red Bull, Ferrari, even the likes of AlphaTauri. Alfa Romeo are seemingly on our pace or even quicker. So we’ve got a bit of work to do.” Follow all the latest updates and lap times below.

Damon Hill believes that a DRS problem could be behind Mercedes’ wider issues in free practice yesterday.

The seven-time world champion was way off the pace on Friday and doesn’t expect to challenge in tomorrow’s race.

However, Sky Sports pundit Hill understands a technical problem with the Brit’s rear-wing has added to the underlining issues the team are encountering elsewhere.

“I heard Lewis had some problems with his DRS deployment that might have exacerbated things,” he said. 

Here are your top five times so far:

A better day for Hamilton so far - much better than yesterday for sure - but still a chunky